Missoula County Fairgrounds Develops New Pricing Structure

The Missoula County Fairgrounds is changing the way it is charging people rent. According to the Support Services Coordinator Tom Aldrich, the old system was too complicated.

"We knew we had to make some changes to make it attractive for potential renters and easier for current renters, just to make any event that happens at the fairground reach its maximum potential," said Aldrich. "The way we used to do it is we calculated the fee based on a number of factors including utilities, what service the staff provide, every little detail went into that price structure."

Aldrich says last year was actually a very good year with a 20 percent increase over 2015.

"We brought in $78,778 in 2016 just through rentals," Aldrich said. "We held over 100 events over 231 rental days in 2016 which was also an increase over 2015, that was 23 percent. Overall, the fairgrounds hosted over 94,000 people in 2016."

According to Aldrich, those numbers don't even factor in the Glacier Ice Rink. The fairgrounds are also doing away with the vendor fees they used to take from renters.